Not like me to get writing a blog post this early on a Sunday morning but I am in that kind of mood. I am a bit hungover but can't sleep in cos I am too excited about the plot today. I have purchased a cordless grass strimmer and cannot wait to take it over and to chop down the tall grass and nettles so I can actually see the beds. And possibly where the rabbits are getting through the fence at the bottom. I have been trying to keep on top of the couch grass immediately surrounding the beds with shears but I just can't.
A couple of weeks ago I sowed loads of seeds and pretty much all of them are up and about. These include (from memory): basil, yardlong beans, sugarsnap peas, courgettes, pumpkin, sweetcorn, squash, chervil (from saved seed), hyssop, borage, Swiss chard, pak choi and cucumber. I am late with all of these but perhaps if I get them planted out this week there may be a chance of a good harvest. I thinned out the seedlings a few days ago.
Thursday was all about Elephant Garlic. I worked at home and didn't know what to have for a quick lunch. In the end, I roasted up the garlic I harvested last weekend and mixed half of it with soft cheese and plenty of seasoning. I spread this on crackers and had it with soup. It was brilliant. I had the other half with spagetti and tomatoes in the evening. That was good too. I will definitely grow that again. Out of the 5 bulbs I planted, 4 came good. I guess the other one rotted off. A couple of them had some very small bulbs around the outside of the main cloves. I set them aside in case they were useful. A brief spot of Internet research suggests that these can be planted up. Apparently, in the first year these will form a single bulb, like a single large clove, and in the second year that bulb will divide up into cloves. I wonder if that is how the farms propagate them. I guess it might be because they are sold as large single cloves. Not sure when to plant them up though: now or in the Autumn.
Right. Enough typing. Time to get strimming.
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2 comments:
A good job you were working alone at home!
Dug our garlic this week. I haven't grown elephant garlic but as I understand it - it isn't really garlic but related to leeks. It sounds as though it produces bulbils like lilies and gladioli do - why don't you pop some in modules now and try some later too to see what happens?
Quite!
I think I'll do just that and see what happens. I'll keep you posted.
I hope all is good with your allotment(s).
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